The findings were published in
the April issue of Breast Cancer
Research and Treatment.

“We do not have information
in the registry data to tell us
what might be contributing to
these patterns,” Gomez told
India Abroad. “We know that
breast cancer risk
increases with
acculturation,
that is, adoption
of Western
lifestyles. This is
consistent with
the fact that the
most rapidly
increasing rates
are seen among
the more recently
immigrated
groups.

Conversely, ratesamong Japanese-Americans, whoas a group immi-grated earlier than the otherAsian populations, increasedrapidly in the 1970s and 1980sand have leveled off.”Bhavana Vasudeva, a breastcancer survivor and a close asso-ciate of U.S. Ambassador to theUN Nikki Haley, said shebelieves the sudden lifestylechanges may be a reason for theincrease.

“Western diet comes with a
western lifestyle. I strongly
believe the hormones in meat
and dairy along with birth control all have contributed to the
rise in rates of breast cancer for
women from the east,” she said.

“As a woman born in India
but raised in America I was
shocked when one of my
Indian-born girlfriends asked
me what she should tell people
about me. ‘Tell them I have
breast cancer, tell them to make
sure they get screened and do
regular self-exams. I did everything you are supposed to do
and I have no family history.

She was diagnosed in 2013
and having undergone successful treatment is now back in
active life.

She traveled with Haley to
India on a trade mission in 2014
when Haley was governor of
South Carolina.

“In my opinion the rates are
rising due to more women coming forward. They were not
counted in past because they
did not want to be,” Vasudeva
said.

The study also found thatamong women older than 50,increases occurred in all Asian-American ethnic groups whilefor women younger than 50,large increases occurred forVietnamese and other SoutheastAsian groups. Although breastcancer incidence rates in Asian-American women as a wholewere lower than rates forwhites, the rates for Japanesewomen and Filipinas youngerthan 50 were compa-rable to rates forsimilarly aged whitewomen.

While the study
didn’t look into the
reasons behind the
increase, researchers
said that the data
points to the importance of more breast
cancer support for
Asian-American
women.

Vasudeva alsolamented the stigmaassociated with theword “cancer.”“Indian people don’t want tosay the word, you fear it somuch that you whisper itsname,” she said. “You let it winwhen you hide and pretend.“After surgery and chemo,my mother said to me that I didnot have to say I have cancer,that it was gone. My sweet momhad a stroke six months beforemy diagnosis. Till that point Itried to shield her, only give herenough information that Ithought she could handle. Thatday in the car I had to tell herthe ugly truth, the one we sur-vivors live with but no one canarticulate,” she said.

“The cancer is not gone, it is
in remission, there will always
be cells lurking, we are all waiting for when it rears its ugly
head. My mom is so modern in
so many ways but she holds a
lot of the old traditions and
ways of her generation,” she
said.

“It took time for her to understand in the way it took time for
this study to discover the truth.
The women revealed their diagnosis so it could be counted.
That was not to the case in my
parents’ generation. Cancer won
back then. We are changing that
now, we modern Indian-American women are robbing it
of its secrecy.

“No one is going to live forever,” she said.

“I hear my clock ticking louder than most. I use that as
mantra for life. ‘Go big or go
home’ as we like to say in the
South. Go back to old ways. I’ve
cut out red meat, I eat organic
and now am trying to clear my
environment of other carcinogens. It is empowering to be the
one who takes charge,” she said.

Bhavna Vasudeva ringing the bell to mark the last chemo flanked by herhusband Dr Raj, sons Armaan and Ishaan

SurvivorBhavanaVasudeva:‘You let itwin whenyou hide andpretend’

By Ritu Jha

rafulla Samantara, aleader in the social jus-tice movement inIndia, has been named as oneof the six recipients of the

2017 Goldman Environmental
Prize, the world’s largest
award for grassroots environmental activists, recognizing
sustained and often risky
efforts to protect and enhance
the environment.

Samantara, 65, was theleader of a 12-year battleagainst British-based VedantaResources, which sought tomine more than 70 milliontons of bauxite — an ingredi-ent in aluminum — in easternIndia’s Niyamgiri Hills. Thecompany’s plans would havedisplaced the region’s indige-nous Dongria Kondh tribe,destroyed 1,660 acres of forestand polluted a vital source ofwater. The mine would haverequired roads to be built forthe bauxite’s transport, open-ing the forest to poachers andloggers.

The business deal between
Vedanta and the Odisha State
Mining Company, signed in

2004, was estimated to be
worth $2-billion.

Samantara filed a petitionwith the Supreme Court’spanel governing mining activi-ties, becoming the first citizento use the legal system to haltthe Vedanta mine. He alsomobilized the Dongria Kondh,hosting peaceful rallies andmarches. During his activism,he is said to have facedattacks and kidnap threats onmany occasions.

On April 18, 2013 the court
ruled that the tribal village
councils had the final say in
mining projects on their land,
giving them the right to vote
on the project. Following an
August 2015 vote that unanimously rejected the mine,
Vedanta announced closure of
an aluminum refinery it had
built in anticipation of the
project.